About this site

Hey. I’m Matt Ruby (matt@mruby.com). I live in Brooklyn and I'm a standup comedian and the creator of Vooza, a video comic strip about the tech world. This is Sandpaper Suit, a comedy blog about standup, filmmaking, and whatever else I feel like talking about. Established 2006. Phew, that's a while.

Today: "‪#‎JeSuisCharlie‬"
Same person last month: "I'm offended by that thing you wrote..."

Actually, the whole raison d'etre of ‪‎Charlie Hebdo‬ was to offend people and show that nothing is sacred. So if you've ever called something offensive, tasteless, obscene, or inappropriate, tu n'es pas Charlie.

Every "that crossed the line" zealot has a Prophet Mohammed. Your Prophet Mohammed may be 9/11, catcalling, AIDS, rape, gay rights, anti-Semitism, Asians, the n-word, the c-word, or the some-other-letter-word. But all that shit deserves to be made fun of too because, y'know, everything deserves that.

If you really want to show #JeSuisCharlie, let someone mock the thing you believe in most – for me, that's pretentious blog posts that hijack a tragedy in order to further one's own personal agenda while also showing off a superficial knowledge of French along the way. C'est la vie!

3 Comment(s)

Anonymous said...

I think its good that people can be #JeSuisCharlie and still be outraged by what others write. For me thats the point - reasonable people can be offended by things, and can say offensive things back - thats freedom. I am offended by things I read but I will still defend peoples right to say those things. For me this campaign is more about and against those that take being offended to a barbaric conclusion.

I agree with the comment above, Matt. You're missing the point about what's wrong with the radical Muslim attack on Charlie Hebdo. It's not that they were "offended" but that they shot people with guns. The violence is the problem, and it grows out of a particular set of radical beliefs. The equivocation you suggest is flat incorrect.